First time $900 gaming build - help

Are you buying a monitor: yes, but not included in the 800-900 budget. any suggestions on a monitor under 300?

Parts to Upgrade: graphics card and cpu

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, os is part of the budget. either windows 7 or 8. not sure which one would be better for gaming.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: doesnt matter: newegg, amazon, ect.

Location: City, State/Region, Country - phoenix arizona

Parts Preferences: intel

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: not even sure what that is. probably not.

Your Monitor Resolution: as good as i can get for $300

Additional Comments: this is my first time building a pc. ive had a few buddies build pcs before but that was some years ago. my whole budget is around 1200 that includes monitor, os, and pc. I just want to be able to play most games on max settings. i play starcraft 2, LOL, counter strike. any advise would be great!

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: someone broke into my home and stole my iMAC(it was time for an upgrade anyways). I need a solid gaming PC

A lot of the build Ive seen have the radeon hd 7950 graphics card and the as rock z77 extreme 4. Those upgrades seem to put the build just out of my price range. do you guys think it would worth the extra money for those upgrades

I would kind of like to have a monitor w/ 2ms but im not sure if I would even notice the difference. lol.

A lot of the build Ive seen have the radeon hd 7950 graphics card and the as rock z77 extreme 4. Those upgrades seem to put the build just out of my price range. do you guys think it would worth the extra money for those upgrades

I would kind of like to have a monitor w/ 2ms but im not sure if I would even notice the difference. lol.

Yeah the 3570K is probably not obtainable on a $900 budget. My build does include a 7950.

Asus is a reputable brand and they make good quality products. I think you might as well get the "k" 3570 because it's only 5 dollars more and it's a good OC'er if you want to do that down the road. Also, there's really not much point in getting an aftermarket HSF if you're not even overclocking. And if you decide on the "k" versions, make sure to get a Z77 mobo like an AsRock Pro3 or Extreme3

what does the ssd improve. Ive been reading it helps alot w/ loading times. is it significantly faster?

What if I increased my budget to 1100 for everything except the monitor? around 1300 total.

Im starting to think I might be getting more computer than i need. I really just want to play any game on max settings. I can spend 1300 but is that going to be noticeably better than if I spent 1000 total?

well the build i made is quite good for u. no point in changing it. also modular isnt that much more expensive and is alot less tangled wires.

1.5 terabyte hd is only 8$ more for 500gigs is worth it. and ssd does make a crazy difference. where ur regular drive caps data at write and read in the 100s of meg per seconds ssds do 280+ megs read and write per second, and alot more depending on the ssd and so on.